The Sherpa guides ascending the mountain Friday morning were carrying equipment and supplies to set up a high-altitude camp for their clients. Roughly 600 local guides climb Everest during the spring expedition season, accompanying about 300 foreign climbers. Sherpa guides do most of the work on the climb, exposing themselves repeatedly to the most dangerous parts of the mountain.

Jamling Tenzing Norgay – the 48-year-old son of Sherpa mountain climber Tenzing Norgay, who in 1953 became one of the first two people known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest alongside Edmund Hillary – climbed Everest in 1996. He spoke to India Real Time about the role of Sherpa guides.

Advertisement

Who are the Sherpas?

Sherpas are high-altitude porters, but they are also an ethnic group of people. When you go on treks to the base camp of a mountain, the Sherpa walks along with the client. This job involves no technical climbing. But then there are Sherpas on the mountain, for anyone who climbs beyond base camp, who carry loads, make the routes, set up camps and take care of the expedition for the clients.

When a western climber wants to climb Mount Everest, if there’s a team of about 7 western climbers, then there are at least 20 Sherpas on support. Each client is usually assigned one Sherpa who walks with that person all the way to the top. The Sherpas fix the lines and ropes; set up the tents; carry all the gear, the oxygen, the personal items, the food, the sleeping bags. They set everything up. When a client walks with the Sherpa later, everything has already been laid out: the tents are up, the food is made for them. They don’t have to do anything but walk.

So Sherpas assume most of the risk for the climb.

One of the biggest dangers on any mountain is natural disaster — avalanches, hypoxia, altitude sickness, falling into crevices, falling off the mountain. This can happen to anybody at any time. But the thing is that Sherpas go up into the mountain many, many more times than western climbers because they have to ferry all the loads and stock up supplies. On average, a Sherpa would go up and down the most treacherous part of the mountain — the Khumbu Icefall — around 15 times per climb. A western climber would go through the Icefall three to four times. They risk their lives a lot less. Sherpas do this a lot more. It’s not easy to set up all the routes and on top of that carry loads up to 30-40 kilos. Western climbers just carry their water bottles or some basic items, maybe 5 kilos in total.

What motivates Sherpas to assume this sort of risk?

It’s a way of life for the Sherpas, climbing the mountains. The mountains have been there for millions of years, and Sherpas have lived in the Himalayan region for 400-500 years now. Sherpas originally had no interest in climbing mountains. It was only since the early 1900s, when the British came over and needed people to carry their supplies, that they hired locals — Sherpas — who proved to be able to handle the altitude and carry heavy loads. When my father went up, it was the same thing for him.

Sherpas don’t climb for recreation. They climb because it’s a job for them, a way of living. Climbing Mount Everest, they make around $3,000 to $4,000 per climb. If they were working in the villages, farming or anything else, it would take them a couple years to make that much. It’s lucrative work, but the risk is always there. It is their choice to go up on this mountain. They are not forced — they love climbing, they like to help clients, they like to see clients get to the top, to see others achieve their goals. But they are doing all the work on the mountain. Overnight mountaineers — the people who climb the mountain just for fun, just so they can say they did it, and this is not all the westerners — they forget that they’ll have to climb the mountain themselves, that no one will carry them. It’s an ego trip for these sorts of climbers. They have no climbing experience, most of them. They come and are taught everything at base camps. They slow everything down — they’re slow, they’re weak, and so they risk the lives of themselves, their teammates and the Sherpas. They risk all these lives just because of ego. I always say that people who want to climb need to work their way up to Everest.

In light of Friday’s avalanche, which killed 16 Sherpa climbers, do you think the dangers Sherpas face have become too much? Has the mountain become too commercialized, too much about attracting foreign climbers?

It’s a very difficult situation. I climbed Everest in 1996, and during that time eight people lost their lives in what was then the worst disaster in Everest history. The people who died were westerners. I can’t stop people from going up the mountains. The Sherpas look at it as a job. If not Everest, then they would look for jobs somewhere else, on other mountains. The money is there, and it’s good money for them. I can’t be the judge of whether it is worth it or not. This is part of the risk that you take. No matter what mountain it is, Everest or a smaller mountain, the risk is always there.

The important thing is that Sherpas need to be paid more. Given the amount of risk, the pay is not enough. The commercial teams and travel agencies that arrange these trips need to start doubling the salaries of the Sherpas. Most importantly, insurance should be doubled. I think Sherpas have been covered for about $5,000 in the case of death, which is nothing. Sherpas leave behind children and widows who need to be rehabilitated. Their kids need education. If you ask Sherpas why they climb, they say it’s because they don’t want their children to climb. They want their children to be educated. That’s exactly what my father told me. In the end, people keep climbing. But we need to make sure their families are taken care of.

Sherpas are always happy, smiling and joking around on the mountain. They are very friendly, always willing to give a helping hand to anyone. They are the unsung heroes of the Himalayas, and they don’t often get the credit they rightfully deserve.

About India Real Time

India Real Time offers analysis and insights into the broad range of developments in business, markets, the economy, politics, culture, sports, and entertainment that take place every single day in the world’s largest democracy. Regular posts from Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires reporters around the country provide a unique take on the main stories in the news, shed light on what else mattered and why, and give global readers a snapshot of what Indians have been talking about all week. You can contact the editors at indiarealtime(at)wsj(dot)com.